How to find dropshipping suppliers for your e-commerce business
Last updated: 12.12.2024
To start a successful dropshipping business, you need the support of reliable sourcing partners. Let’s take a look at all the places where you can find dropshipping suppliers
Key takeaways
- Partnering with reliable dropshipping suppliers ensures product quality, timely shipments and better customer satisfaction
- Dropshipping suppliers can be found through marketplaces like AliExpress, Alibaba and supplier directories like SaleHoo and Spocket
- Always verify dropshipping suppliers through reviews, licenses and product samples before committing to an agreement
- Use a World Account to pay suppliers and manage sales from multiple currencies and marketplaces
Finding dropshipping suppliers is a lot more challenging than finding wholesale suppliers who send you the entire product inventory in one go. With dropshipping, you never get the opportunity to inspect the quality of products before they are shipped to your customers.
Partnering with unreliable dropshipping suppliers can potentially lead to issues like bad product quality, insufficient/non-branded packaging and delayed shipments–all of which can severely affect your business and even lead to loss of customers.
In this blog, we look at the top ways you can find reliable dropshipping suppliers in Australia and overseas.
Table of Contents
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is an e-commerce business model where businesses sell products without keeping any inventory. When a customer places an order on the seller’s website, the order details are shared with the dropshipping supplier, who is then responsible for packing and fulfilling the order.
With the right strategies, dropshipping can be a successful e-commerce fulfilment method, allowing you to quickly sell trending or popular products. All you need is the right dropshipping supplier by your side.
What are dropshipping suppliers and companies?
A dropshipping supplier offers the products you want to sell and ships them directly to your customers. Dropshipping suppliers can be manufacturers, wholesalers, or resellers.
- Manufacturers make and sell the product to wholesalers, retailers and other businesses
- Wholesalers purchase products from manufacturers and store the inventory to sell them to retailers and other businesses
A dropshipping company or agent provides you access to a large catalogue of products that are possibly sourced from different suppliers.
The dropshipping company/ agent may or may not connect you with the actual supplier directly. Many agents work as middlemen between the suppliers and sellers. They use their network of suppliers to source different products for you.
When you are looking for a dropshipping supplier, try to focus on these three factors:
Reliability: Do suppliers have consistent inventory? How easily can you communicate with them? Do they have experience dropshipping to the regions where the majority of your customers are located?
Efficiency: How do they manage packaging and shipping? How often do the shipped orders get delayed?
Quality control: What are their quality standards? What quality control process do they follow to ensure your customers never receive a bad quality product?
Is dropshipping possible in Australia?
Yes, it’s possible to dropship in Australia. You can find dropshipping suppliers in Australia or in other countries like China and the US. When searching for dropshippers, consider factors like wholesale product prices, shipping costs and delivery times.
If you plan to list your products on different marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, make sure you know their dropshipping policies. In case you will be catering to customers across the globe, you will also need to look into the dropshipping policies of different countries.
- Open 15+ local currency accounts with local account details
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- Pay suppliers, partners and staff in 40+ currencies and 130+ destinations
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- Lock in currency conversion rates for up to 24 months
How to find dropshipping suppliers in Australia and overseas
Let’s take a look at the different ways to find dropshipping suppliers:
Google Search
The easiest way to look for dropshipping suppliers is by searching for them on Google. You can use keywords like ‘dropshipping suppliers’ or ‘dropshipping agents.’ Remember that the top-ranking suppliers on search engine results may not be the most reliable and Google business reviews aren’t always genuine. Do your own in-depth research before partnering with a supplier.
Marketplaces
There are online marketplaces where you can find manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers who can help you dropship products directly. Let’s look at some of the B2B marketplaces based in China.
AliExpress majorly targets international B2C buyers, but the online e-commerce marketplace also has a dedicated section where you can find products available for dropshipping. You can easily check the most popular dropshipping products by sorting products based on the number of orders placed. You can sort products based on the price.
You can also automatically sync data and send orders from your store to the supplier by integrating your online store with your AliExpress account.
Directly communicate with suppliers and get all your queries answered through the platform’s integrated messaging. AliExpress supports all the major domestic and international payment methods.
Best for: Beginner dropshippers who want a reliable platform and faster international shipping.
→ Take a look at our guide to AliExpress dropshipping
Alibaba is a B2B marketplace that connects global buyers with manufacturers and wholesalers, most of whom are based in China. You can buy your product inventory from sellers directly or connect with dropshipping suppliers on Alibaba.
Since AliExpress and Alibaba are both part of the Alibaba Group, dropshipping works similarly on both marketplaces.
As compared to AliExpress which is a B2C platform, Alibaba offers wholesale prices. However, Alibaba sellers usually require you to commit to a minimum order quantity (MOQ).
Best for: Dropshippers who want to offer private labeled/ white labeled products to their customers or make large bulk purchases
→ Take a look at our guide to Alibaba dropshipping along with our head-to-head Alibaba vs AliExpress comparison.
Note: The pricing on Alibaba and AliExpress is not always fixed. There’s always room for negotiation, so connect with the suppliers directly before placing your orders.
Supplier directories
There are also supplier directories that you can use to directly find and contact suppliers
SaleHoo is a wholesale supplier directory with over 8500+ pre-vetted suppliers and 2.5 million products. It allows sellers interested in dropshipping to connect directly with suppliers in a wide range of niches. SaleHoo majorly includes trending products from AliExpress.
You pay an annual or lifetime subscription to access the pre-vetted supplier directory. You can message supplies directly from the platform – but everything else happens outside the platform.
SaleHoo also has a dropshipping plug-in that allows you to add AliExpress products directly to your Shopify store.
Salehoo directory is not the same as a marketplace. With marketplaces like Alibaba and AliExpress, you can find products, connect with suppliers, purchase products and manage orders all through the same website. But, directories like Salehoo only aim to connect sellers with dropshipping suppliers.
Since seller payments don’t happen on the SaleHoo platform, your supplier payments and agreements are not protected through SaleHoo. You’re responsible for ensuring supplier reliability and managing international payments.
Best for: Sellers who want to connect with dropshipping suppliers directly without paying a marketplace commission on every order.
Spocket is another supplier directory to connect with dropshipping suppliers based in the US and Europe. Sprocket lets you connect with suppliers and place orders directly from the platform.
You can also order product samples from the Spocket dashboard to test product quality before finalising a supplier.
Spocket can integrate with your online store to import product data and sync all the order information. It supports integration with Bigcommerce, Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, eBay and Amazon.
Spocket has four pricing plans; not all will give you access to the entire directory of products or even allow you to chat with suppliers. The higher the plan, the bigger the product catalogue you’ll get access to. You’ll also have to pay more for branded invoicing, eBay and Amazon dropshipping and bulk checkout
Best for: Sellers who want to find dropshipping suppliers based in the US and EU and not just in China
Tips for finding reliable dropshipping suppliers or agents
Do your research
Before you finalise the agreement, make sure the supplier is trustworthy and reliable. You can start your verification process online by looking up the supplier online and checking their website. You should also look for customer reviews in the past 6-8 months. Even if the supplier is based overseas, ask for their business licence and other tax information for verification. It’s always a good idea to get product samples and inquire about shipping timings beforehand.
Keep communication straightforward
Right from the very start, you should keep communication with suppliers as clear as possible. Share your expectations, requirements and concerns with the suppliers before you have an agreement. You should also ask as many questions as possible.
Always order samples first
The biggest challenge with dropshipping is that you don’t get to check the products before they are shipped to the customers. By ordering sample products from suppliers, you can test out the products, packaging, delivery times and overall service. In case you need product customization, you can also order samples of different product versions.
Always ask about MOQs
Many dropshipping suppliers can have fixed minimum order quantities (MOQs) already in place. Placing large quantity orders is not always possible with dropshipping–especially if you are just starting out.
If you’re just setting up your online store, prefer suppliers with no MOQ requirements. As you steadily grow your business, you can negotiate product pricing based on your monthly sales volume.
Avoid dropshipping suppliers that charge unnecessary fees
Apart from cheap quality products and bad reviews, you should also avoid dropshipping suppliers who insist on charging unnecessary fees like initiation fees or monthly business maintenance fees. Unless the dropshipping supplier provides extra services, they should only charge for the product and order fulfilment.
Getting paid like a local with WorldFirst
As a dropshipper, you’ll want to make sure that you’re able to manage all your sales income from different sites and marketplaces – and in multiple different currencies – in one place, cost-effectively and efficiently. Here’s how we can help.
Meet the World Account: a business account designed for trading in multiple countries. The
World Account allows you to open 15+ local currency accounts and connect to 100+ leading marketplaces and online payment gateways, including Amazon, AliExpress, Shopify and PayPal.
You’ll be able to set up local currency accounts with us in minutes – without having to set up and manage several foreign bank accounts. This means you’ll have a hassle-free way to receive your dropshipping sales income in your customers’ local currencies for free. You’ll pay zero transaction or currency exchange fees on funds that you receive, so you can keep more of your hard-earned profits.
The best part? It’s completely free to open an account and there are no ongoing account management fees, too.
Disclaimer: The information contained is general only and largely our views. Before acting on the information you should consider whether it is appropriate for you, in light of your objectives, financial situation or needs. Although information has been obtained from and is based upon multiple sources the author believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy and it may be incomplete or condensed. All opinions, estimates, mentioned products/services and referenced material constitute the author’s own judgement as of the date of the briefing and are subject to change without notice. WorldFirst shall not be responsible for any losses or damages arising from your reliance of such information.
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